GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.— The Center for Biological Diversity launched federal litigation today challenging the Bureau of Land Management for failing to protect endangered species like the Karner blue butterfly and Indiana bat by properly assessing the risks posed to them by fracking on public land being leased for oil and gas production in a game reserve in southwestern Michigan.

On Sept. 12 the federal government plans to auction off more than 27,000 acres of publicly owned mineral rights in the Allegan State Game Reserve but has not analyzed the harm fracking and drilling could do to all the area’s rare and protected species.